Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026
06:55
Kinematic History of a Salient-recess Junction Explored through a Combined Approach of Field Data and Analog Sandbox Modeling
Published on: August 5, 2016
Continental breakup-driven uplift instigated East Antarctic Ice Sheet formation.
Thomas M Gernon1,2, Thea K Hincks1, Philip Goodwin1
1School of Ocean & Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|July 2, 2026
Summary
Antarctica
Area of Science:
- Paleoclimatology
- Geodynamics
- Ice Sheet Dynamics
Background:
- The glaciation of Antarctica around 34 million years ago (Ma) is debated due to seemingly warm Eocene climates.
- While declining CO2 is a known factor, other drivers of Antarctic ice sheet formation are explored.
- Previous research has not fully integrated topographic changes with ice sheet nucleation models.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of regional topographic uplift in the nucleation of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS).
- To test the hypothesis that Jurassic continental breakup and mantle feedbacks influenced Eocene uplift and subsequent glaciation.
- To reconcile early Oligocene polar warmth with the initiation of the modern icehouse state.
Main Methods:
- Integration of geodynamic-topographic models with ice sheet and energy balance models.
- Simulations of progressive plateau growth in East Antarctica, including the Gamburtsev Mountains uplift.
- Analysis of landscape elevation changes relative to the threshold for ice sheet nucleation.
Main Results:
- Progressive plateau growth and Eocene uplift of the Gamburtsev Mountains raised East Antarctic landscapes above the ice nucleation threshold by ~45 Ma.
- This topographic threshold enabled EAIS nucleation and growth even under warmer-than-expected climatic conditions.
- The findings explain hemispheric asymmetry in early glaciation patterns.
Conclusions:
- Regional topographic uplift, driven by deep Earth processes, was a critical factor enabling East Antarctic glaciation.
- Uplift provided a necessary condition for ice sheet formation, complementing the effects of CO2 decline.
- This study reconciles the apparent paradox of early Oligocene polar warmth with the onset of major glaciation.
More Related Videos
13:38Laser-Induced Fluorescence Emission (L.I.F.E.) as Novel Non-Invasive Tool for In-Situ Measurements of Biomarkers in Cryospheric Habitats
Published on: October 26, 2019
14:38Establishment of Microbial Eukaryotic Enrichment Cultures from a Chemically Stratified Antarctic Lake and Assessment of Carbon Fixation Potential
Published on: April 20, 2012
Related Concept Videos
01:50Global Climate Change
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
01:31Mechanism of Lamellipodia Formation
Cells migrating in response to external stimuli form lamellipodia, which are thin membrane protrusions supported by a mesh of linked, branched, or unbranched actin filaments. These actin filaments interact with myosin motor proteins, creating the dynamic actomyosin complex within the cytoskeleton. Contractility, or the ability to generate contractile stress, is inherent to the actomyosin complex. It helps cells detect the stiffness of the surrounding ECM and exert contractile force for...
02:11Forces Acting on Chromosomes
During mitosis, chromosome movements occur through the interplay of multiple piconewton level forces. In prometaphase, these forces help in chromosome assembly or congression at the equatorial plane, eventually leading to their alignment at the metaphase plate. The forces acting on the chromosomes are space and time-dependent; therefore, they vary with the position of the chromosomes as the cell progresses through mitosis.
Microtubules and motor proteins exert two types of forces on...
Microtubules and motor proteins exert two types of forces on...
02:39Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Heating a crystalline solid increases the average energy of its atoms, molecules, or ions, and the solid gets hotter. At some point, the added energy becomes large enough to partially overcome the forces holding the molecules or ions of the solid in their fixed positions, and the solid begins the process of transitioning to the liquid state or melting. At this point, the temperature of the solid stops rising, despite the continual input of heat, and it remains constant until all of the solid is...
01:07Speciation Rates
Speciation can proceed at markedly different rates, and evolutionary biologists commonly describe these differences through the models of gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Both patterns explain how new species arise, but they differ in the tempo and continuity of evolutionary change. In both cases, evolutionary change arises from heritable variation within populations, with natural selection often shaping traits that improve survival and reproduction under specific environmental conditions.
01:39Anaphase A and B
Microtubules form through the end-to-end polymerization of tubulin heterodimers. Kinetochore microtubules originate from the spindle poles, and their plus-ends connect with the kinetochores on sister-chromatids. Ndc80 protein complexes, present on the kinetochore, form low-affinity links with the plus end of these kinetochore microtubules.
Plus-end depolymerization releases tubulin heterodimers from the terminal region of the microtubule. As tubulin subunits are lost, the Ndc80 complexes detach...
Plus-end depolymerization releases tubulin heterodimers from the terminal region of the microtubule. As tubulin subunits are lost, the Ndc80 complexes detach...